9.13.2005

Were you watching? Did you see that epic first at-bat for Barry Bonds for the 2005 campaign? Did you see him work it? Did you just about shit yourself when he nutted that double to the top of the left center field wall and have a fan bump it over so that, at first look, it appeared to be a home run?

Yeah, me too. What a fantastic way to start your season, Barry. The thrill is back!

I was able to Tivo it and watch it with Graydon and even got him cheering at the top of his little lungs. At one point he was pumping his arms and screaming, it was pretty darned sweet and fun.

Welcome back, Barry! Just his presence in the lineup took pressure off of everyone else and Ray Durham went 3-3 with an intentional walk and Edgardgo Alfonzo went 3-4. You could see that the team was more at ease, that they knew they had the big, big boy back and he was ready and able to shoulder the burden of the team again.

The lineup Giants fans have been waiting for all season is almost here.Randy Winn, Omar, JT, Barry, Moises, Ray, Fonzie or Pedro, Mike Matheny and whoever's lucky enough to pitch. It sure does help that the NL West is, by far, the weakest division in the lead and there are four teams still in the race (and one of them might even end up with a .500 record or better!).

One other thing that was really truly awesome and special was when Barry first took the field with a young boy who was suffering from, I want to say, luekemia but it might have been another cancer. The boy was Barry's inspiration during his rehab, he promised him that he would play again. It was touching and pretty darned awesome.

Now, if we can keep the Red Sox hot and then get the A's hot again to push for the Wild Card, we might just have a post season without the most overpaid and underachieving team in history. By the way, want to see a nice visual representation of how much ol' George Steinbrenner's overpaying his losers? Check out the Salary vs. Performance page. Red lines indicate underachieving teams, the steeper the line, the worse they are performing. Blue lines denote overachieving teams, check out the Cleveland Indians for the Most Bang for the Buck award for the 2005. Oakland, Chicago and St. Louis are also getting good returns on their investments.Tags: baseball, San Francisco, Giants, Barry Bonds, comeback, Oakland, Athletics,kinder and gentler, salary vs. performance